share:

OVERVIEW

powered by AFI

Brief Synopsis

When one of his ranch hands is killed by hired thugs during a raid, Jim Roberts bands together with his neighbors to fight against the Bennett Cattle Co., whose greedy owner plans to drive them from their land, then build packing plants to save the cost of shipping cattle. When he hears that the ranchers are gathering forces, Bennett sends for hired killer Butch Crane, a noted dandy. Before he arrives, however, Crane steals the clothes of grizzled cowboy Fuzzy Jones, who is asleep in the wilderness. After Rocky Cameron, a former vigilante now working for the government and known as The Lone Rider, awakens Fuzzy, his partner. Fuzzy is forced to wear Crane's discarded clothes. Fuzzy and Rocky then pretend that they are hungry homesteaders when Jim's daughter Jane catches them stealing food from her picnic basket. Jane invites them to her ranch, but Fuzzy is mistaken for Crane by Bennett's cohorts, so he and Rocky decide to go to Bennett's ranch instead. There, Rocky slyly convinces Bennett that the befuddled Fuzzy is actually Crane, and Bennett offers them $10,000 to kill Jim and disband the ranchers. When the real Crane arrives, Rocky confuses matters and convinces Bennett that he is actually Crane. After donning his own clothes, Fuzzy sends the real Crane on his way, then tries to reveal his true identity to Jim and Jane. They are suspicious of his affiliation with Bennett, however, and have him arrested. Fuzzy is thrilled that he no longer has to work and the sheriff is providing him with luxurious accommodations. Crane, meanwhile, seeks revenge against Bennett and allies himself with Jim. After Rocky catches two of Bennett's men rustling Jim's cattle and ties them up, Jim finds a note from "The Lone Rider" saying that he is working undercover to help the ranchers. While Rocky releases Fuzzy from jail, Crane proves his identity to Bennett with a wanted poster which had been concealed in the lining of his clothes. Bennett and Crane then plan to raid Jim's ranch and run him out. Crane and one of Bennett's men go to the jail, where Rocky and Fuzzy lock them in a cell and learn of Bennett's plans for Jim's ranch. While Fuzzy rides to warn Jim, Rocky finds Bennett. Jim continues to distrust Fuzzy until the sheriff tells him that he is working for the government. After Jim uses the telephone party line to advise the other ranchers to gather forces, he and Fuzzy join Rocky and Ellen, who are engaged in a gunfight with Bennett's gang. When the ranchers arrive, Rocky beats Bennett in a fistfight, and Bennett and his gang are arrested.